In February of 1976, I nearly died from a severe brain injury in a Herndon High School gymnasium and then went through living hell trying to recover in an environment surrounded by my mother’s family. Classmates have described that evening and my early recovery in great detail.

What follows is a classmates description of my brain injury:

"I do remember well the night of your accident. It is one of the most horrific events I have witnessed. As luck would have it I was standing near to underneath the cross bar when you suffered your accident. I was watching you as you made your run and your subsequent fall. It began with the planting of your pole. You missed. The pole hit the lip of the plant box and instead of seating firmly in the pocket it slid before seating. This in turn resulted in you not gaining proper elevation and throwing off your angle upon landing. The bar was set at maybe 12 or 13 feet. You did not clear the bar rather went under it. Also you did not achieve a true upside down position and push off the pole to clear the bar instead you remained in the tuck position with your legs over your head but never making the final push over the bar. You did not clear the landing mat rather you landed off to the side of it. You took the entire blow on the back of your head and neck from maybe 11 or so feet not including your inertia forward. So there were two force vectors acting upon you when you hit.

The sound was something that is indelibly burned into my memory. A dull thud something akin to a bowling ball dropped onto a wooden floor. It was loud enough for the entire gym to hear it and the place went dead quiet for just a moment after your fall. Then all hell broke loose. My mother worked for 30 years as an emergency room nurse. She was big on training her children on what to do in emergencies. She even had mock triage situations and made us practice on one another. I was the first to reach you as you landed practically at my feet. When you hit the floor you bounced and came to rest approximately ¼ turn on your left side. This, I believe, saved your life. As I kneeled down next to you I could see your eyes rolled back into your head. There was blood coming from the back of your head and you were convulsing slightly (twitching of the arms and legs). In addition your breathing was shallow and labored. There was s frothy pink fluid coming from your mouth. I opened your mouth and with my fingers cleared away the fluids that were building in your mouth. At this point the adults arrived and took control of the situation. Right away the adults began to argue about what to do. One camp wanted to do nothing and leave you immobile. The other camp wanted to move you and begin mouth to mouth resuscitation. The do not move camp prevailed. Orders were shouted out to get an ambulance and contact your parents. Naturally a crowd formed around you.

Because your head was turned to the side the fluids were able to drain from your mouth so you did not choke while waiting for the paramedics. It did not take long for help to arrive. In the days before cell phones in perhaps five minutes or so after your fall the EMT’s were onsite. In short order a neck brace was affixed and a back board in place as well as, I believe, two IV’s. When the EMT’s had you secured and were ready to wheel you from the gym a call went out to the crowd “does anybody know him?” “We want him to see a familiar face should he wake up” they said. I raised my hand. I was quickly drafted to ride with you in the ambulance to the hospital. During the ride to the hospital, which I might add was a mad and frantic dash, the paramedics continually ventilated you with a hand unit. The hospital emergency department was notified by radio to be standing by. Your heart did not stop and you were not defibrillated. When we arrived at the hospital the triage team was standing by to receive you and you were quickly whisked away thru the doors. Shortly after reaching the hospital your parents arrived. At least I think that is who they were having never met them. This is the last I saw of you."

What follows is a classmates description of one day during the first two years of my recovery:

"I did not know Julien Modica very well at Herndon High School, though we were in the same grade. But I do remember a vibrant, athletic young man with flowing blond hair who excelled at sports and seemed to have a definite idea of where he wanted to go in life. I also remember the terrible day when we heard that Julien had missed the landing mat at an indoor track meet and had suffered a traumatic brain injury. At the time, it was not even certain Julien would survive, and if he did, it was not known if he would ever regain his full motor function. Then, about a year or two later, I happened to be driving down North Shore Drive in Reston, Virginia, and saw a young man running along the side of the road. He was not really running, but was staggering, and it was obvious that the very act of running was taking every fiber of his being as he made his slow, painful progress. I knew a second later that this was Julien, and I thought, what an amazing guy that he is out here, creeping along the side of the road, sweat pouring off of him, to regain his former fitness. It was an inspiration to me then, and it continues to be to this day."

What follows is Washington Post Reporter Stanley Rappapart’s description of my injury:

Paralysis No bar to Modica
By Stanley Rappapart
Washington Post
Sports Section Page D1
Friday, May 21, 1976

Julien Modica doesn’t remember how the accident occurred. He only know it’s effects: 13 day in a coma, damage to the brain stem, internal bleeding, pneumonia, spastic weakness.

The day was Feb., 4, Modica, a talented sophomore pole vaulter at Herndon High School, was practicing without the bar in place in the school’s gymnasium.

Whatever caused the accident will never be positively know. Some bystanders have said that they thought the plant box, which holds the base of the pole during the lift, moved. Modica fell extremely hard onto the wood floor and was knocked unconscious.

He was rushed to Fairfax Hospital’s intensive care unit with a cerebral concussion. Comatose for 14 days, he finally was moved from intensive care on Feb. 20. On April 3, Modica was released from the hospital unable to walk on his own and his left arm nearly immobile from spastic weakness.

Fifteen days later, however, Modica walked three-fourths of a mile by himself. And only two weeks ago Modica returned to the classrooms of Herndon, walking with a slight limp and able to move his left arm 180 degrees.

Modica, a 6-foot-1, 180-pounder, still cannot run or move his left arm entirely as he wishes. But he is extremely confident that will all change by June 4.

Modica Misses No Goals On Road Back

Ever Since he began the long often lonely road of rehabilitation, Modica has set dates by which certain goals would be met. He hasn’t missed yet.

And as significant as those goals may be, they are only stepping stones to two goals that at one time seemed improbably, but every day appear more likely. Modica’s confidence that both aims will be met is unquestionable: he believes that by august he will be clad in a Hornet football uniform and that next spring he will break Virginia AAA high school pole vault record.

He has made a tremendous amount of recovery and he’s very motivated said Alice Burton, an occupational therapist who has worked with Modica since the first week in April. But he has a long way to go. I’m not convinced in my mind that he’ll be able to do it.

Dr. Roger Gisolfi, a physiatrist (specialist in physical rehabilitation), and Dr. William Rouady, a neurosurgeon, are both cautious to say whether they believe Modica, who was a second string quarterback on last year’s varsity, will play football or vault again.

“In two months he was walking around,” said Gisolfi. “he’s still improving day to day. We’ll just have to wait and see.

There was a purpose to all the misery, all the pain, and all the frustration I experienced. I care about Veterans. Abraham Lincoln’s famous words, “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.” Ring loudly in my ears. These are the recent newspaper headlines: “Pentagon focuses on brain trauma,” “Air Force officials remain vigilant in PTSD Treatment,” “U.S. gov’t upgrading injury status of Iraq, Afghan war veterans with TBI.” If I am the Democratic Candidate and if I am fortunate to get the support from the citizens of the 10th District, immediately upon being sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives as the next member of Congress, I will initiate the development of a coordinated program of ongoing advocacy and support for our injured veterans. Administered through and accountable to the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, I will recommend a “Veterans Recovery & Diagnostic Center” for veterans with brain injury as well as mental health service-connected disabilities be housed temporarily in Western Prince William County while a new facility be built in Loudoun County.

The facilities will allow trained teams to work with and support the veteran and as well oversee his/her long and short term decision making. The “Veterans Recovery & Diagnostic Center” “hospital,” when completed, will house 250 beds and be made available at no cost to military veterans with service-connected disabilities for short and long term stays (up to a year) on a revolving basis for their entire life. Americans are not ready to receive this new generation of injured veterans on any level, medically or economically. The architectural design for the Veterans Recovery & Diagnostic Center puts a covered 400 meter tartan track surface at the center of all activities. The Recovery Center will help injured veterans start the slow recovery path of community reintegration. If elected, I will immediately begin to lay this foundation for our fallen heroes.